Knee-friendly work-outs for firming up hamstrings

[OakLeaf]

Stretching should never be painful. Go to the point of a gentle pull and STOP! Increase the range of motion as the muscle lengthens; never force it.

But. If stretching is so difficult, it's likely you have a lot of trigger points built up. You can stretch until the cows come home (as my LMT told me) and never loosen the muscle until you work out the trigger points. Get yourself a Thera-Cane or another deep massage tool and a copy of the trigger point book.

[grey]

Also don't forget that some days you are simply more limber than others. Some days you will be less flexible than you were the day before - bodies are like that.

[VeloVT]

Stretching should never be painful. Go to the point of a gentle pull and STOP! Increase the range of motion as the muscle lengthens; never force it.

But. If stretching is so difficult, it's likely you have a lot of trigger points built up. You can stretch until the cows come home (as my LMT told me) and never loosen the muscle until you work out the trigger points. Get yourself a Thera-Cane or another deep massage tool and a copy of the trigger point book.

Along the same lines... I have been having some hip issues over the past few weeks due to getting back into running after a long layoff -- I've started using my foam roller all around -- IT band, quads, hams, glutes -- and while it has me yowling while I'm doing it , it really seems to help.